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A BRIEF 




\ HISTORY OF THE REBElililON 

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CONTAINING 



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THILADELPHIA : 
PUBI^ISHKD BY J- MAGEE, 

316 CHESTNUT STRKET. 

1^62. 



Bnt«r«d aceorxlius to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by J. Magee, 310 Clje^nut ?treet PlpK 
lu tto DiKtrict Court of tb» 1'. S., for tlie Ka^tern District of Peun'a. . V 



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A BRIEF 



HISTORY OF THE REBELLION, 



LIFE OF GEN. McCLELLAN; 



CONTAINING 



SOME FACTS NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED. 



BY G. W. :piCHARDS. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
PUBLISHED BY J. MAGEE. 

316 CHESTNUT STREET. 

1862. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by 

J. MAGEE, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and for 
the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



McCLELLAN AND THE REBELLION 



There is perhaps no part of English history that is more 
interesting than the Jacobite rebellion, thousands flocked to 
the standard of the chevalier, whose courtly manners won 
the hearts of all. He was the descendant of a hundred kings, 
the blood of the great Saxon monarchs, of the ancient rulers 
of Scotland, of William the Conqueror, and of the Tudors, 
all flowed in his veins. Gold and titles were liberally pro- 
mised, when the rightful heir to the crown then worn by the 
elector of Hanover should sit in Westminster and hold the 
sceptre, but not one of these visions were destined to be rea- 
lized. Among the old Scottish gentry, who testified their 
allegiance to the ancient house of Stuart, w^as McClellan, of 
Kircudbright, on the Galway, whose enthusiam for the exiled 
family induced him to rally in support of their claims, and 
with a body of Highlanders he was present at the fatal battle 
of Culloden, which forever exterminated the hopes of the Stu- 
art dynasty. Some of the adherents of the ill-starred race, 
perished by the bullet, cord, and axe ; others were saved by 
woman's devotion. A few attached themselves to the wander- 
ing and uncertain fortunes of the pretender, and some emi- 
grated to the provinces, or as they were then styled colonies. 

Among these last was McClellan, of Kircudbright, who set- 
tled in Massachusetts, at or near the town of Worcester; but 

3 



4 McClellan and the Rebellion. 

the martial spirit of the family did not die with the brave clans- 
men who wore the tartan and grasped the claymore. When 
Britain unwisely oppressed her colonies, another of the same 
ilk, though nursed far from bonny Scotland, drew his sword 
against the King of England, and manfully contended for the 
rights of his country ; this was General Samuel McClcllan, the 
son of the first settler. Ilis son, James McClellan was the fa- 
ther of Dr. George McClellani^^ direct ancestor of General 
George B. McClellan. By th^Bi\ternal side. Dr. McClellan 



h^fti\i 
dg^i 



was connected with the Eldredge|Pimily, one of the most well- 
known in New England, and Mrs. McClellan, (the Dr.'s mother,) 
lost at the storming of Groton, near New London, eleven near 
relatives, who were either killed or mortally wounded. The 
General's great-grandfather was a distinguished officer during 
the whole of the llevolutionary War. He was present at the 
battle on Long Island and the evacuation of New York. Thus 
wo have shown that ever since the '••M'vent of the McClellan 
family in North America, they have been eminently distin- 
guished as military officers, and that the Scottish valor, mixed 
with prudence, has descended to our own times. 

George McClellan, the father of the general, deserves a pass- 
ing notice. To the writer of this sketch, he was extremely 
well known ; and was one of the most remarkable men that he 
ever saw. Nature had endowed him with a rare tenacity of 
purpose and a great intellect, he saw at one glance, the 
disease, the temperament and constitution of the patient and 
tlie remedy to be applied ; his tact was unerring, and his sa- 
gacity never led him astray ; if tlie malady were not serious, 
he in the course of five minutes aiforded the necessary relief, 
reassured the sufferer, and often by a well timed jest charmed 
away hypochondria. Nor Avas benevolence deficient in his 
character, and this, a single incident^ will show. A poor 
woman had applied to him in rather a serious complaint of 
the eyes ; the prescription was given, and the doctor in a few 
days called to see his patient ; to his great surprise, he found 
her at the wash tub, and sternly reproved her, she replied that 



McClellan and the Rebellion. 5 

lier circumstances compelled her to -vyoi'k, he placed $20 
in her hands, and said, "Now go to bed, that -will keep you 
for a while." This great Surgeon died at the age of fifty-one, 
and after a very short- indisposition. The expression of Mac- 
beth in relation to Duncan, suited him, "After life's fitful fever, 
he sleeps well." 

George B. McClellan, the present Commander-in-chief of 
the United States Army, was born in the city of Philadelphia, 
December 3d, 1826 ; his mother was Elizabeth Brinton, of an 
opulent and respectable family ; he received his early educa- 
tion at the best schools which the metropolis of Pennsylvania 
aiforded, and at a suitable time, entered the university. In 
early boyhood he read a poem of which Arthur was the hero, 
and was so fascinated with the daring of the warrior, that he 
persuaded his parents to give a younger brother the name of 
his favorite. His manners then were extremely modest and 
retiring ; he was frequently in the habit of going on business 
for his father to the house of a well-known citizen, and never 

would enter the parlor. Mrs. would repeatedly ask him 

to come in, but no, the entry, he said, would do as well, he was 
not cold. 

Accident led him to quit the university, and after some soli- 
citation, in the proper quarters, a commission was obtained, 
and he was ranked as a cadet at West Point in 1842 ; the 
severe discipline, and intense mathematical studies of this 
great institution, suited the aspirant for military honors, and 
he graduated second in the class of June 1846. 

The diificulties with Mexico were then at their height, and 
the young cadet was immediately appointed Second Lieutenant 
of Sappers and Miners, and detailed for duty in Gen. Taylor's 
army, and acted as pioneer on the march from Vittooria to Meta- 
moras, in opening roads, crossing fords, and clearing encampments. 
The same duty was also rendered by him on the route to Tam- 
pico, and the lieutenant was mentioned in the most laudatory 
terms by Gen. Scott and Col. Totten, Chief of Engineers. The 
Corps of Sappers and Miners is perhaps one of the most useful 



6 McClellajST and the Rebellion. 

in the army, and demands the most incessant vigilance. Lieut. 
McClellan shared in the honors of the final victory ; and for his 
services was breveted 1st Lieutenant of Engineers. On the 
12th of September, a higher rank was offered, but modestly 
declined ; a few days after, he was breveted captain for gallant 
and chivalrous conduct at Chapultepec and Mexico ; this was 
accepted. He was the first man to enter the ancient capital of 
the Aztecs. 

History has not yet done justice to the hard won fields of 
Mexico ; the difficulties seemed almost insuperable, the disho- 
norable and uncertain method of warfare pursued by the enemy, 
the rabble of which the Mexican army was composed, the heat 
of the climate, and lastly the terrible maladies engendered by 
the fruitful and productive soil, all more or less impeded the 
termination of hostilities, but the southern foe was forced to 
yield to the prowess of the Anglo Saxon race. 

After the Mexican campaign was ended. Captain McClellan, 
still in command of the Sappers and Miners, returned to West 
Point, and there acted as field professor till 1851. He also 
taught during that year the bayonet exercise, and translated 
from the French a Manual of Exercise on the Bayonet Service, 
which is now a text-book in the service. In the same year Fort 
Delaware was also constructed under his superintendence. 

The territory of the United States is so great that it seems 
almost impossible to get an accurate idea of the very distant 
settlements, and in 1852 the government resolved to investi- 
o-ate the country on the Red River, only known by the reports 
of the traders and the visits of a few missionaries, a bishop 
in fact had been consecrated for that part of the world, some 
time before ; to this expedition, under the command of Captain 
Randolph B. Marcy, Captain McClellan was attached. 

Captain McClellan was now a rising officer, and stood high 
in the opinion of the Secretary of War, and in 1852, acting 
under a commission, he made a harbor and coast survey of 
Texas, and in 1853 a full report of the same. Immediately 
after this document had been filed, Capt. McClellan was detailed 



McClellan and the Rebellion. 7 

in charge of the northern route for the Pacific Railway ; the 
order was issued April 8, 1853. Jefferson Davis, then Secre- 
tai-y of War, in his report to Congress, specifically alludes to 
the intrepid and persevering conduct of Captain McClellan in 
field operations. In November, 1854, after having thoroughly 
examined the railway system of the United States, he made a 
report on the same. 

The European war, in 1855, attracted universal attention. 
It was well known that some of the greatest military talent of 
Europe would superintend the operations on each side, to 
gather information. The Cabinet, after mature consideration, 
dispatched three officers to the seat of war, Major R. Delafield, 
Alfred Mordecai, and George B. McClellan, as junior, to in- 
spect the fortifications, the modus operandi in all military 
affairs, and to make a full report. These gentlemen were re- 
ceived on their arrival in England with all courtesy, and every 
facility extended which could further their mission. France 
held back, evincing some jealousy, and acting with a spirit of 
reserve unusual in a civilized nation. Russia interposed also 
some diplomatic delays, and never fully satisfied the demands 
of the commissioners. On the 13th of Jul}^, 1855, Baron Lie- 
vcn informed the American officers that the forts of Sebasto- 
pol, Sweaborg, and Revel, could not be visited. It will be use- 
less to follow the commission step by step. From some of the 
European continental powers, they gained valuable informa- 
tion, of which the nation now reaps the benefit. On the return 
of the commissioners the result of their travels and observa- 
tions was published in some quarto volumes, fully illustrated. 
That of McClellan covered nine different topics, followed by 
the " regulations for the field service of cavalry in time of 
war, for the United States Army," This last section Avas trans- 
lated from the origiual Russian acquired, while the commis- 
sion was sojourning in the great northern empire. In the spring 
of 1857. Captain McClellan again was in service, at West 
Point, but finding his duties irksome, and no chance of prefer- 
ment, he tendered his resignation, and returned to civil life. 



8 McClellax axd the Rebelliox. 

Railways are exceedingly necessary in all parts of the world, 
but are of peculiar importance in the United States. The 
Directors of the Illinois Central Railroad demanded, in particu- 
lar, a person of great still, tact, practical and scientific know- 
ledge to direct its vast plans. All these gentlemen were indi- 
viduals of fortune, business qualifications, and capital judges 
of merit. The position heretofore held by McClellan pointed 
him out as a man admirably adapted for the task, and after 
some negotiations, which extended throuirh the fall of 1856, he 
Avas named vice president and chief engineer. His labors 
finally ended in 1860. In September of the same year, the 
superintendency of the Ohio and Mississippi Railway was com- 
mitted to his charge. 

But a time was now close at hand, when every mau's patriot- 
ism was to be fully tested. South Carolina, the smallest and 
weakest of the States, had dared to subvert the glorious fabric, 
reared by the blood and toils of our patriotic ancestors, or at 
least to traitorously make the attempt ; but she knew little of 
the Northern, Middle, and "Western people ; there is a vital dif- 
ference between the two great sections ; the South relies on the 
labor of others ; the North upon her own efforts. Labor in the 
one is a sure jjassport to honor and distinction ; and the 
Northern mechanics proudly point to the Senate, the bar, and 
the pulpit, whose most dignified posts are filled by men, who, 
like themselves, have toiled in the workshop, wielded the ham- 
mer, plied the axe, or worked at the case : Franklin, Sherman, 
Eckford, Kelly, Rittenhouse, Gates, Young, Fillmore, and 
MacHale, are among their brightest and choicest jewels. In 
the South, labor is at a discount. The Northern artisan is 
tolerated and considered as a necessary evil. A poor and proud 
gentry, living on worn out plantations, scarcely able to support 
themselves, and utterly incapable of paying their quota of the 
national expenses, are widely diffused throughout the slavehold- 
inf" States, who proudly say that they are invincible, cannot be 
beaten, and prate incessantly about high-toned gentlemen and 
Southern chivalry ; such is a fair transcript of the great ma- 



McClellan and the Rebellion. 9 

joritj of die Southern gentlemen, as tliej loftily style themselves. 
This conversation is not confined to the ignorant and unedu- 
cated, but the same sentiments were manifested in a letter from 
the Bishop of Charleston to the Archbishop of New York. 

The loyal States rose as one man ; the pulpits resounded with 
invitations to arms ; the poets strung their lyres ; fl.ags floated 
from all the public edifices; military companies were formed, 
and their ranks rapidly filled; the mechanic forsook his work- 
shop, and the printer his stick ; all were anxious to show their 
zeal for the good cause; the old women, who could do no more, 
knitted socks and mittens for the absent soldiers; secret hoards 
were opened, and the contents freely disbursed in the military 
service ; half dollars hermetically sealed in stockings were ex- 
changed for Treasury notes ; all political distinctions vanished. 
This is but a faint picture of the reality, of the earnest but 
quiet enthusiasm of the great Northern people. An army was 
created, as if by magic, in the course of a month. Many army 
and navy officers, who had retired from the service, tendered 
their aid, and were accepted ; among those from Philadelphia, 
we may record Lieut. P. Gr. Watmough and Lieut. E. Y. 
McCauly, who were immediately reinstated in their former 
rank, as lieutenants in the Navy. 

At such a juncture, McClellan could not he idle — the blood 
of the Highlander stirred in his veins, and he instantly tendered 
his resignation to the directors, but it was not accepted, and he 
is still President of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad. By the 
first call for volunteers, Ohio was required to furnish thirteen 
regiments and their ofiicers. By legislative enactment of April, 
1861, the Governor was empowered to name one Major General 
and three Brigadiers. The first rank was immediately con- 
ferred upon George B. McClellan, who had the gigantic under- 
taking on his shoulders of drilling, clothing and equipping an 
army of raw recruits ; but these men had the right material, 
and on the 17th of April, Governor Jennison officially announced 
that two regiments were on their way to Washington ; this was 
only two days after receiving the President's proclamation. 
2 



10 McClellan and the Rebellion. 

The department of Oliio, comprising Ohio, Western Pennsyl- 
vania, Western Virginia, Indiana, and Illinois, "was organized 
and placed under the command of General McClellan. The 
campaign in Western Virginia determined, McClellan issued 
two proclamations, one to the loyal men of Virginia, and the 
other to his soldiers, both couched in strong, but simple terms. 

The "war "was vigorously prosecuted in Western Virginia, the 
enemy hotly pressed, and on the third of June, 1861, two thousand 
rebels "were surprised at Phillippi by the federal troops ; fifteen 
"were killed, ten taken prisoners, and the rest fled ; the federal 
loss Avas two killed, and twenty-five wounded. The rebels now 
saw defeat staring them in the face, but still battled manfully. 
On the 9th of July, the army reached Beverly, and on the fol- 
lowing day, a portion of the forces stationed at Buckhannon had 
a skirmish, but retreated in good order. On the 12th, Beverly 
was surrendered; General McClellan then had in his possession 
a large quantity of stores, two hundred tents, and six brass 
cannon, taken from the rebels. On the 13th, the column com- 
manded by General Morris, belonging to General McClellan's 
division, came up with the rebel forces, then retreating under 
Garnett, near St. George; both sides fought desperately, but 
victory declared in favor of the federal troops ; on the side of 
the government, there were thirteen killed and forty Avoundcd. 
A large number of the secessionists were captured ; and a 
minie ball entering on the left of the spine, piercing the heart, 
and coming out of the right nipple, instantly killed General 
Garnett. The enemy was entirely routed ; two thousand out 
of five thousand only escaping ; the defeat of Garnett operated 
very beneficially in Western Virginia, and the Wheeling Con- 
vention was now free to pursue its plans unmolested. 

Major General Winfield Scott had long and most efiiciently- 
served his country, but the disaster of Bull Run indicated very 
plainly that a younger and stronger man was needed as acting 
commander. The brave old Virginian, who had so gallantly 
fought his country's battles, did not shrink from the duties 
assio-ned him ; but age and infirmities began to tell heavily 



McClellan and the Rebellion. 11 

upon him, and on the 1st of August, 1860 Major General 
George B. McCleUan -was named as acting Commander, and 
summoned to the CajDitol to be invested Avith that important 
charge. 

Business now reigned paramount. No one was admitted 
to General McCIellan's rooms unless on particular business. 
The greatest vigilance was maintained in the office of the de- 
partment, and the utmost secrecy in regard to the movements 
of the army. But a new source of anxiety was superadded to 
the heavy cares of the young General. Public opinion began 
to whisper that the journey to Richmond was too long delayed, 
that McClellan did not advance ; these politicians were unac- 
quainted with military tactics, and were not competent judges 
of the movements of a great army. The acting General dis- 
regarded these insinuations, being assured by the President 
of the entire confidence that he reposed in him. The hopes 
of the nation are now centred in McClellan, and from him all 
expect a restoration of order and tranquility. On the 1st of 
November, 1861, Lieutenant General Scott resigned the office of 
Commander-in-Chief, which now devolved on the acting Gen- 
eral. His advances to Richmond, have been slow but sure, 
and it seems to be the generally recognized opinion, that ere 
long, the Capitol of rebeldom Avill submit to the fate of Norfolk 
and New Orleans. 

At the last battle near Richmond, Sunday, June 1, 1862, 
General McClellan was on the field, and his presence greatly 
cheered the soldiers. Some foreign officers of distinction, now 
in this country, have greatly applauded McCIellan's military 
genius and his tactics. In the battle last mentioned, the use 
of the bayonet Avas particularly eifective. 

It may be remembered that General McClellan lays much 
stress upon the proper application of this weapon, and that he 
has adopted a manual on its exercise from the French. He 
thus details to the Secretary of War the last battles fought. 
The engagement of Saturday, Sunday and Monday he chris- 
tens the battle of Fair Oaks. 



12 McClellan and the Kebelliok 

Washington, June 5. — The following clespatcli was received 
to-day at the War Department : — 

" New Bridge, June 5, 10-30, a. m.— To the Hon. E. M. 
Stanton, Secretary of War. 

" My telegraph despatch of June 1st, in regard to the battle 
of Fair Oaks, was incorrectly published in the newspapers. I 
send with this a correct copy, which I request may be published 
at once. 

" I am the more anxious about this since my despatch, as 
published, would seem to ignore the services of General Sum- 
ner, which were too valuable and brilliant to be overlooked, 
both in the difficult passage of the stream and the subsequent 
combat. 

" The mistake seems to have occurred in the transmission of 
the despatch by telegraph, 

" G. B. McClellan, 
" Major-General Commanding." 



"Field of Battle, June 1st. 

"Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War: — We have had 
a desperate battle, in which the corps of Sumner and Heint- 
man, and Keyes have been engaged against greatly superior 
numbers. Yesterday, at one o'clock, the enemy, taking ad- 
vantage of a terrible storm which had flooded the valley of the 
Chickahominy, attacked our troops on the right bank of that 
river. 

" This caused a temporary confusion, during which some guns 
and baggage were lost. But Heintzleman and Kearney most 
gallantly brought up their troops, which checked the enemy. 

" At the same time, however. General Sumner succeeded, by 
great exertions, in bringing across Sedgwick's and Bichardson's 
Divisions, who drove back the enemy at the point of the baj'o- 
net, covering the ground with his dead. 

" This morning the enemy attempted to renew the conflict, 
but was everywhere repulsed. 



McClellan and the Rebellion. 13 

" We have taken many prisoners, among whom are General 
Pettigrew and Colonel Long. Our loss is heavy, but that of 
the enemy must be enormous. * * * * 

* our men have behaved splendidly. Several fine bayo- 
net charges have been made. The Second Excelsior made two 
to-day. 

" (Signed) G. B. McClellan, 

" Major-General Commanding." 

"Headquarters ov the Army of the Potomac,] 
Camp, near Now Bridge, June 2. j 

" Soldiers of the Army op the Potomac : — I have ful- 
fdled, at least, a part of my promise to you. You are now 
face to face with the Rebels, who are held at bay in front of 
the Capitol. 

" The final and decisive battle is at hand. Unless you belie 
your past history, the result cannot be for a moment doubtful. 
If the troops who labored so faithfully and fought so gallantly 
at Yorktown, and who so bravely won the hard fights at Wil- 
liamsburg, West Point, Hanover Court House, and Fair Oaks, 
now prove worthy of their antecedents, the victory is surely ours. 

" The events of every day prove your superiority. Wher- 
ever you have met the enemy 3- ou have beaten liim. Wherever 
you have used the bayonet he has given way in panic and dis- 
order. 

" I ask of you now one last crowning eifort. The enemy 
has staked his all on the issue of the coming battle. Let us 
meet him and crush him here in the centre of the Rebellion. 

" Soldiers ! I will be with you in this battle, and share the 
dangers with you. Our confidence in each other is now founded 
npon the past. Let us strike the blow which is to restore peace 
and union to this distracted land. 

" Upon your valor, discipline, and mutual confidence the re- 
sult depends. 

" (Signed) George B. McClellan, 

" Majoi'-General Commanding." 



14 McClellajt axd the Eebellion. 

The following extracts from the correspondence of those on 
the no-^Y celebrated ground may not be without interest : — 

"After a quiet day or two at this point, I was informed 
about noon on Saturday by an aid of General Keyes, that the 
enemy were rushing large reinforcements down from Ilichmond, 
on our left, along the Coach or Bottom Bridge road, and the 
Charles City road. Preparing for battle immediately, we were 
not long kept in suspense ; for the roar of cannon and the rat- 
tle of musketry told it was begun on the left in earnest. Whole 
volleys, mixed with incessant file firing, harmonizing with the 
base boom of our artillery, and the vocal accompaniment of 
thousands of lungs, cheering, made up a concert that could not 
be equalled, even by the imagination. The din went on, and 
still no fighting with us ; but, on a sudden, pickets came riding 
with breathless haste, to inform us that a whole division of the 
enemy, headed by a strong column of cavalry, were driving in 
our pickets and marching directly on our flank. Comfortable 
news for a Captain of ai'tillery, with four guns and only one 
regiment of infantry (Thirty-first Pennsylvania) to support him ! 
So changing front to right, we advanced the guns into an oat 
field. After considerable suspense. General Couch rode across 
the fire from the left of our lines, (which appeared from the 
sound to be falling back,) bringing with him three regiments, 
Colonel iSTeill, Twenty-third Pennsylvania ; Colonel Kicker, 
Sixty-second New York ; and the New York Chasseurs, Colonel 
Cochrane, apparently in hope of opening a flank fire from the 
railroad to check the enemy's advance. Telling me to feel them 
in the woods with my shell, we discovered nothing of them but 
the skirmishers, who gave themselves up after the opening of 
our fire. 

" The mistake in coming to reinforce me was discovered in an 
instant, for our guns ceased firing on the, left, and the road of 
communication was occupied by the enemy. Orders were im- 
mediately given for the Sixty-second to charge down the road 
up which they had come, and so connect with our comrades. 
But it was too late ; when half way down, they discovered it 



McClellan and the RebiTllion. 15 

blocked up bj imposing masses, ready for a charge in our direc- 
tion. However, upon sighting our men coming down on the 
double-quick, with bayonets fixed, the enemy changed their 
mind, and broke to the right and left, taking positions in the 
•woods to give us a flank fire. This the good sense of our offi- 
cers prevented, by halting and marching quietly back to the 
railroad station. In an instant my guns were planted, cover- 
ing the road. A consultation was had, and in view of the 
enemy's advance on our right extending to our rear, it was de- 
cided to form in line of battle in an adjoining clearing, about a 
mile wide and half a mile deep. I then asked permission to 
examine a road, which one of my corporals reported running 
through the woods to the rear, whereby we could again join our 
comrades, who had fallen back, fighting every inch of ground. 
Having done this successfully, we found we could make a con- 
nection Avith General Birney, about half a mile in the rear. 
But simultaneously with my retm-n, up came General Sumner, 
from the other side of the Chickahominy, on our right, every 
man at a full run. The brave, cool old man formed each regi- 
ment, as it came up, in line of battle to the right and left of 
our battery, bringing with him three guns of Kirby's battery 
to lend a hand. All came in time, line formed, and the ball 
began. The enemy advanced to the very edge of the woods, 
within fifty yards of my guns, and on front line. As we had 
no time to throw out skirmishers, they came upon us unseen, 
advanced outside of the brush, fell on their knees, and deli- 
vered the first fire. This fire appeared to do most harm among 
our officers. Never did I hear such a rush of musket balls ; it 
appeared like a fierce crash of wind through the rigging of a 
storm-tossed ship. Our men returned the fire without even 
stooping against the leaden gale ; but rather took one step in 
advance, and then delivered fire in concert with the angry hail 
of canister from my guns. Nothing could equal the rapidity 
of our fire ; it took five extra men to each gun to keep ammu- 
nition supplied. ' Canister, canister,' was all I could repeat. 
Men fell, and horses were cut down around my guns ; but still 



16 McClellax and the Rebellion. 

tliere was no cessation in the cry for 'canister,' and tlie hurry- 
in oj to and fro for more, with the mad cresticulatins; of the sweat- 
ing rammers as they sent home the charges, made a wild scene. 
' Canister is out !' caught my ear ; and in an instant, unthink- 
ing, I sung out, 'Shell without fuze.' The next moment our 
auns belched bursting shell and spherical case right in the face 
of the enemy. 

"Just at this critical juncture they charged, advancing half 
way in the field, right on our guns, scarce twenty yards from 
our muzzle. But no farther — the 'rotten shot,' as one of the 
poor Avounded rebels graphically termed it next morning, was 
too much for them. ' Xo one,' he said, 'could stand, for it 
flew every way.' Those that charged were buried there next 
day. 

" During the heat of the action I was ordered to shift two 
guns, across the fire, more to the centre, which was getting 
badly cut up. When I reached them I found room enough to 
wheel my horses ; I had to ask no one to ' open ranks for the 
guns,' for space enough was opened already. So, dropping our 
trails, load ready, the cry was, ' there they come again, give it 
to them.' The scene here was singular. Each man along our 
broken line stood loading and firing, as though his comrades 
were all around him ; and when a charge was made on them, 
they advanced a step or two, as if to meet it, and to fire at the 
enemy at the same volley. The latter could not stand the pres- 
sure. Again these two guns were trotted out to support the 
Seventh Minnesota, who held the enemy in flank, with the men 
lying down in a clover-field. The shout of exultation they set 
up, Avhen we reached the right, was truly gratifying, as we 
swept proudly round in battery, the enemy paying my horses 
and cannoniers his best attention. Twenty rounds of our ' rot- 
ten shot' fired, as it seemed, in as many seconds, directly on 
their fl-ank, closed the battle. They gave way, leaving all their 
wounded and dead behind. Colonels, Captains, and Lieu- 
tenants lay mingled with the common soldiers, groaning in their 
agony. The bodies of the poor, deluded, suffering fellows, lay 



McClellan and the Rebellion. 17 

strewn around in all possible attitudes, pouring out the ebbing 
tide of life. The wounded lay all night in the woods, wailing 
for help. What a spectacle the Sabbath morning opened to 
our view I * * * 

"But hark ! the battle bey;ins ao-ain. It is the rebels' favor- 
ite fighting day. They are reinforced on our left, and the fire 
soon rises into one terrible war of artillery and musketry. It 
lulls, and then beg-ins aojain with renewed determination. On 
both sides volley follows volley ; regiment after regiment are 
rushed to the left. Two hours, and the battle still rages. Men 
fall as thick as they fell in yesterday's fight. McClellan comes. 
Meagher rides along the line of the Irish Brigade, Avaving the 
green banner, and crying ' Charge ! charge !' Our men cheer, 
and in go the gallant Sixty-ninth, with their bayonets before 
them. Regiment after regiment press forward on the run ; the 
firing stopped, and the enemy try to fly. But Bull Run had to 
be avenged, and many a man of them was pinned to the trees 
by our bayonets." * * * 

"About twelve o'clock our lines were attacked on the left — 
Casey's and Smith's Division, a portion of Couch's was in it ; 
Birney's, now Neill's Twenty-third, Sixty-first, Colonel Rip- 
pley, composed of Philadelphians and Pittsburghers, about 
equal in numbers, and the First Long Island regiment. We 
were badly cut up ; the Sixty-first losing their Colonel, Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel, Major, and about five hundred men ; the Long 
Island lost two hundred ; Birney's, between one and two hun- 
dred. The fight went on until near three o'clock, P. M., we 
getting the worst of it. Arrangements were being made for a 
retreat, when Avord came that reinforcements were coming from 
all quarters. Sumner was soon with us. He instantly ordered 
a new line of battle, and brought the great Rickett's battery, 
which the rebel General Magruder was once Captain of. He 
said to his men, ' Take that battery, but spare the men.' They 
were his own at one time. They did spare the men, but did 
■not take the battery. Well, the rebels made three great, bold, 
and daring charges, but were repulsed each time with heavy 



18 McClellan axd the Kebelliox. 

loss ; the last was the greatest cut of all. General Sumner 
ordered the firing to cease, and load double charges of grape 
and canister, and the Fifteenth Massachusetts, -which supported 
the battery on the left, and the Eighty-second (late Thirty-first) 
P. v., -which supported it on the right, all ceased. 

" It -was no-w six, P. M., and -we had been constantly engaged 
since four and a-half o'clock. Well, as I said, it -was the third 
time of the rebels' charge. Our battery and infantry, all loaded, 
■waited until the enemy got "within twenty or thirty feet of us, 
when both artillery and infantry poured such a volley of shot 
into their ranks, that they were mowed down like grass, and 
repulsed with very heavy loss. They made seven unsuccessful 
charges on our regiment, but we stood it from four and a-half 
o'clock till seven and a-half ' (dark), three hours of the hardest 
kind of fighting. We stood our ground, and never moved an 
inch until next morning. We slept on the ground we fought on. 
Each man was provided with sixty rounds of ammunition, and 
had ten left after the fight; some of the boys went it rather 
'strong,' and had none left. 

" The great Hampton Legion, of South Carolina — their brag 
brigade — with two thousand men, were in the attack on our 
point. We killed and wounded, so it is said, nearly one thou- 
sand of them. I do not vouch for it, but this much I know, 
their loss was severe. From ei^ht o'clock until midniorht of 
this memorable day, we were collecting the wounded and pri- 
soners out of the woods. You see by this : Secesh were in the 
woods, and we on the edge — a fence between — we kneeled, 
loaded, and fired, and gave orders to fire low. Most of their 
shots went flying over our heads, which accounts for the small 
loss our regiment sustained. Our regiment, with its supports, 
a New York and Minnesota regiment, lay on their faces, con- 
cealed by the woods. They were in the act of rushinor on an- 
other New York regiment beyond, firing the while, until they 
came near our proximity, when, like the man of 'Roderick,' 
of Clan Alpine fame, up we rose and gave them such a volley, 



McClellan and the Rebellion. 19 

that hundreds of them, no doubt, were ' unable to tell they 
were hurt.' 

" The night after a battle is worse than the day. The cries 
of the wounded for water, and seeing the dead — with the varied 
expressions of countenances — some biting a cartridge, others in 
the act of ramming, and countless positions, lying around you, 
is enough to try the nerves of the strongest." 

A correspondent of the World, writing from the camp before 
Richmond, on the 7th instant, says : — 

" The army before Richmond is still fighting, but with the 
elements now. More unfavorable weather for speedy and 
successful operations cannot well be conceived. It was by the 
greatest good fortune imaginable that Sumner, on the last but 
memorable Saturday, succeeded in getting over the river. If 
it astonished the enemy then to learn that he had crossed, it is 
equally surprising to us now to learn how he did it. His rear- 
most baggage wagon had scarce been hauled off the floating 
and perilous causeway of logs, before the rushing waters swept 
the timbers away, making huge gaps in the work, and render- 
ing that avenue of approach entirely useless. Thrice was it 
repaired during the three following days, and as often was it 
swept away. Officers and men suffered for subsistence ; wagons 
were not able to move an inch ; Bottom Bridge temporarily 
gave way. and the first substantial crossing Avas by the railroad 
bridge, which was so repaired by Tuesday morning as to admit 
of the passage of infantry and cavalry. Each day this week 
until yesterday we have had pouring rains ; muddy, impassable 
roads ; short commons for men and animals ; rising rivers, 
broken bridges, and destruction on all hands. But we survive ; 
work yet progresses ; something is daily done ; future delays 
will be very brief; the seas of blood shed on the hard fought 
field of Fair Oaks will be avenged, and the fate of rebellion 
soon permanently settled. The army burns to administer to 
the rebel host before us the ignomininous fate to which Halleck 
and Pope have consigned Beauregard and his minions. 

" The railroad bridge over the Chickahominy has been double- 



20 McClellan and the Rebellion. 

planked over the ties, so as to admit the passage of infantry 
and cavahy. The service of the road cannot be too highly ap- 
preciated. On Tuesday afternoon, shortly after the bridge was 
ready for passage, Colonel Averell's Third Pennsylvania Cavalry 
appeared, and in single file, with men mounted, commenced 
crossing the elevated tressel-work bridge, over one-fourth of a 
mile in length. At the extreme west end the road curves 
slightly, aifording a good view to the rear. The sight of this 
long line of mounted men, in single file, extending as far back 
as the eye could reach, was one of the most novel and original 
we ever witnessed, and the universal desire to have the scene 
preserved on paper ought to have been gratified, and we trust 
'our special artist,' even if not ' on the spot,' may still present 
it in some recognizable form. 

" Dr. Gaines, of whom I have spoken before, and whose man- 
sion is within sight, from my tent-fly, has been gobbled up by 
the Provost Marshal, and sent to Fortress Monroe. Two rea- 
sons are assigned for it. First, he made signals to the enemy ; 
second, he threatened to dig up the bodies of all Union troops 
buried on his farm, and throw them into the Chickahominy. 
His live body has been taken, and very properly thrown into a 
dungeon. His clover fields and peach crop will be food for the 
Union army, instead of any part of said army being food for fishes. 

" General Pettigrew is a small, lean, cadaverous, and long- 
haired South Carolinian. He is severely but not dangerously 
wounded in the upper part of the chest, the ball passing in near 
the breastbone and coming out at the shoulder. He is now at 
the house of Dr. Gaines. He talks freely ; says the ' South 
can never be subjugated,' but adds, '•if it is, then I shall go to 
Europe to end my days, for .1 will never live in a disgraced 
country.' 'If it is, and your mind already made up as to what 
you will do in case it is ! we hope more of the same class will 
do likewise.' " 

" The following sketches of camp life appeared in the Trans- 
cript. In addition to the Commander-in-chief they bring two 
distinguished persons on the stage : — 



McCLELLAISr AND THE REBELLION. 21 

"Wherever General McClellan rides, it is easy to single 
out three remarkable figures from the brilliant group that 
rides near him. The Prince de Joinville is even more easily 
found than the others ; he rides more characteristically, and 
his dress is peculiar. He ' slouches' loosely in his saddle, and 
stoops over. S. A. R., the Count de Paris, seems what he 
very certainly is — a brave gentleman and a gallant soldier. 
He is not a conventional prince, nor yet exactly a conventional 
soldier. We see in him the Bayard of France's royal race, a 
true knight and the champion of the future. His features and 
figure show the German blood that comes by his mother. He 
is larger and fuller in frame than the others, and promises to 
be fuller in flesh. His hair, too, verges towards the German 
tint, and the predominant expression on his face is a truly 
German amiability and good nature. Yet he is a true French- 
man ; for, on the night of the battle of Williamsburg, when all 
near headquarters were cold, hungry and thirsty, he Stood by 
the fire and nonchalantly ate chocolate, and offered a piece to 
General Sumner. That, we take it, proves his Gallicism. 
Sweet chocolate to a savage old soldier hungry as an earth- 
quake. 

" But of all princes the perfect beau ideal is the Due de 
Chartres. He certainly realizes what has been dreamed by so 
many young ladies of what a perfect prince ought to be. Pecu- 
liarly effeminate in form and face, with a quick, nervous manner ; 
courteous and brave, and always careful to look well — a gallant 
Frenchman all over, and a gallant soldier, too. He Avill 
doubtless be remembered in the future as the best approxima- 
tion to personal royalty that we have yet seen on our side of 
the water. 

" Whoever saw these men on this day, as, with General 
McClellan, they rode over the field of the Seven Pines, and 
up to, and into the fire, must have had odd fancies of the 
topsy-turvy arrangements of old Dame Fortune — born princes 
with their swords out in the cause of republican freedom and 
unity. 



22 McClellan and the Rebellion. 

" How the battle-field mingles matters, too ! Let the princes 
ride on, and we will stop here and take a quiet and inquisitive 
look at this man whom they saluted — Brigadier General Daniel 
E. Sickles. Near this little wooden house, and under this 
large oak tree, wdiere his headquarters are established, the 
rebel horses were fed last night, and the rebel soldiers slept in 
their blankets. Sickles' men drove them away this day with 
the bayonet. So he has a right to the ground. And he sits 
there, too, as if he knew that he had a right to it. How easy 
his manners are ! With what suavity he speaks to all ! Hand- 
some, proud, and brave, cool and clear-headed, he will win his 
way up, now that the way is clear. Success to the com- 
mander of as good a brigade as there is in all the army !" 

Major General McClellan is rather more than an average 
scholar. As we have already shown, he is extremely well versed 
in mathematics and French ; has a good command of Spanish, 
and a reading knowledge of Russian and German. He is a 
fair classical scholar, and is rather fond of poetry. He is 
modest, and rarely speaks of himself or his acquirements. His 
expression and figure are spirited and manly; the contour of the 
head is intellectual, and indicates great firmness and self-pos- 
session ; as though, no matter what happened, he was deter- 
mined to do what is right. In matters of business, he is 
always to the point, and exceedingly prompt, but never rude. 
One trait more must be mentioned, which will close this lengthy 
sketch. He never forgets the comforts of his soldiers or sub- 
ordinates, and has an especial care of the sick and wounded. 
His private character is unspotted, and those most opposed to 
him highly respect him as a man. 



THE REBELLION. 



Before proceeding to the immediate history of the rebellion 
against the Government of the Union, or secession, as it is 
more commonly called, it will be necessary to glance for a mo- 
ment at the introduction of slavery into the United States, 
when colonies, and how many of the States have retained it. 

After the discovery of St. Domingo, by the Spaniards, the 
benevolent Bishop of Chiapa saw how severely the Indians were 
taxed by their new lords, and that their numbers were rapidly 
diminishing. To relieve the unhappy aborigines, he proposed 
the introduction of negroes, alleging that they were better fitted 
by their power and temperaments for enduring labor than the 
natives. To this Spain readily assented ; but the Church of 
Rome refused to sanction this "man traffic." Leo X. ve- 
hemently declared that " Not the Christian religion only, but 
nature itself cries out against the state of slavery;" Paul III., 
in 1537, exclaimed against it in two briefs ; Ximen^s, the learned 
minister of Ferdinand and Isabella, refused to allow the impor- 
tation of negroes in the recently acquired lands, affirming that 
they would increase in numbers, and eventually revolt. This 
prophecy was accomplished when St. Domingo was seized by 
the negroes, and the French rule ended forever. Spain found 
this traffic so lucrative that she at once engaged in it, and has 
continued its prosecution till the present day ; but in most of 
the Catholic settlements there is a law for the negro, and he is 
recognized as a human being. Sir John Hawkins was the first 
Englishman who engaged in the slave trade. In 1562 he trans- 

23 



24 McClellan and the Rebellion. 

ported a large cargo of Africans to Hispaniola, and invested 
the proceeds in sugar, ginger, and pearls. 

In the month of August, 1620, four months before the Ply- 
mouth colony landed in America, a Dutch man-of-war entered 
James River, and landed twenty negroes ; and in the following 
year cotton was first planted in the colonies. This example 
Avas rapidly followed by the other colonies. Slave labor was 
sure ; they could not run away ; they were the property of 
their masters, body and soul. The laws of Virginia, so early 
as 1670, were extremely intolerant to the negro ; and in 1672, 
it was made lawful for persons pursuing fugitive slaves "to 
wound or even kill them." In 1664, New York largely im- 
ported slaves, sometimes from the West Indies, and frequently 
direct from Guinea. Governor Stuyvesant was ordered to "pro- 
mote the sale of negroes;" the average price was less than 
$140. 

In 1645, Thomas Keyser and James Smith, the latter a mem- 
ber of the church of Boston, " sailed for Guinea to trade for 
negroes;" but a cry of indignation was raised against them 
from all parts of Massachusetts, and the negroes were ordered 
to be sent back to Africa, with apologetic letters. These sen- 
timents did not prevent the traffic from spreading through all 
the States. 

In 1671, Sir John Yeamans arrived from Barbadoes, with a 
cargo of slaves, and landed them in South Carolina. Thus 
slavery almost from the very beginning was an essential part 
of the domestic policy of this State ; and she was the only one 
of the old thirteen in which it was the case. 

But even in Virginia there were some opponents of the sys- 
tem ; but it had become so profitable that the British Govern- 
ment was determined to foster it by all possible means, and 
thus matters went on till 1670. The halls of legislation and 
the pulpits uttered loud anathemas against slavery ; again and 
again laws had been passed restraining the importation of ne- 
groes from Africa, and as often had they been disallowed. 
This was discussed by the King in Council, and a mandate was 



McClellan and the Rebellion. 25 

despatched forbidding the Governor to assent to any law which 
should prohibit or obstruct the importation of slaves. This 
order was debated in the Assembly of Virginia in 1772. Jef- 
ferson, Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, and a little later 
President Laurens, of South Carolina, were vehemently op- 
posed to slavery, and in favor of emancipation. The Virginians 
therefore addressed the King, who made no reply, " and the 
pernicious commerce was still carried on." Georgia was settled 
still later, and slavery was not introduced there till after a vig- 
orous opposition. 

After the yoke of Great Britain had been flung off, all the 
northern and eastern states passed laws gradually emancipating 
the colored population, and a very warm debate ensued in 
Congress concerning the slave trade. At last it was settled 
that the trade should be kept open till 1808, and after that 
time any persons importing slaves should be considered as guilty 
of piracy. When Missouri applied for admission into the Union, 
it was then determined that slavery was to be extended no fur- 
ther, but that it was to be allowed in the new state. 

As a matter of history it may be assumed that all that the 
slave power asked was granted, till the smaller and weaker 
parts of the Union began to think that they were to lay down 
the law to their sister states ; that they would remain so long 
as it suited their views. These facts were stated verbatim, in 
a conversation that took place in 1812, between Commodore 
Stewart and J. C. Calhoun, in which the latter declared that 
dissolution of the Union would eventually ensue, and that the 
south would take the initiatory step. 

Late in the month of June, 1832, by a majority of thirty-two 
to sixteen in the Senate, and of one hundred and twenty-nine 
to sixty-five in the House, the Tariff Bill of Henry Clay re- 
affirming the protective principle on certain articles, and abo- 
lishing duties on those not needing protection, was passed. 
This had been debated all winter and spring. In the spring 
of 1831, J. C. Calhoun published his first treatise on nullifica- 
tion in the Pendleton Mercury, On the 19th of November, 
4 



26 McClellan and the Kebellion. 

1832, the citizens of South Carolina met in Convention, at 
Columbia, and passed the celebrated ordinance, November 24, 
1832. This is so important that it merits a place here — as it 
was the very beginning of secession. 

" 1. That the tariff laws of 1828, and the amendment to the 
same of 1832, are null, void, and have no law nor binding upon 
this state, its officers, or citizens. 

" 2. No duties enjoined by that law or its amendment shall 
be paid in the state of South Carolina after the first day of 
February, 1833. 

" 3. In no case, involving the validity of the expected nulli- 
fying act of the Legislature, shall an appeal to the Supreme 
Court of the United States be permitted. No copy of proceed- 
ings shall be allowed to be taken for that purpose. Any at- 
tempt to appeal to the Suprem'e Court, may be dealt with as 
for a contempt of the court from which the appeal is taken. 

"4. Every office-holder in the state, whether of the civil or 
military service, and every person thereafter assuming an office, 
and every juror, shall take an oath to obey this ordinance, and 
all acts of the Legislature in accordance therewith, or suggested 
thereby. 

" If the government of the United States shall attempt to 
enforce the tariff laws now existing by means of its army or 
navy, by closing the ports of the state, or preventing the in- 
gress or egress of vessels, or shall in any manner harass or 
obstruct the foreign commerce of the state, then South Caro- 
lina will no longer consider herself a member of the Federal 
Union. The people of this state will henceforth hold them- 
selves absolved from all further obligation to maintain or pre- 
serve their political connection with the people of the other 
states, and will forthwith proceed to organize a separate go- 
vernment, and to do all other acts and things which sovereign 
and independent states may of right do." 

The legislative body instantly passed the requisite acts for 
carrying out the ordinance ; the necessary funds were voted ; 
militia companies formed ; palmetto cockades were universally 



McClellan and the Kebellion. 27 

■worn ; and, lastly, medals struck, with this inscription : " J. C. 
Calhoun, the First President of the Southern Confederacy." 
General Jackson had not been idle ; private, but stringent in- 
structions were sent to the Collector of the Port of Charleston, 
and a few days after General Scott went also " to superintend 
the safety of the ports of the United States in that vicinity." 
No language can possibly paint the bitter wrath and unsparing 
indignation of the old Tennessean against the traitors of South 
Carolina, and his famous proclamation soon electrified the whole 
Union. The matter was hastily adjusted, but not to the Presi- 
dent's satisfaction ; the old Roman always regretted to the last 
that he did not try, convict, and execute John C. Calhoun for 
high treason. The fugitive slave law was the next concession 
to the slaveholding states. 

But mightier causes were at work, and a reaction had taken 
place, of which the founders of the Union did not dream. 
The Western States, in their time, were inhabited by the In- 
dians, with now and then a white hunter, or a stray peddler, 
who came to barter his goods for peltries. These distant terri- 
tories had now become of great value ; flourishing cities, trans- 
acting an immense commercial business, and occupying the 
sites of Indian wigwams, astonished the world by their sudden 
growth and unparalleled prosperity. Buffalo, Cincinnati, and 
Chicago might vie in some respects with ISTew York, Philadel- 
phia, or Boston ; and the rapid tide of emigration swelling west- 
ward, gave reasonable hopes that, at no far distant day, rivals 
to these great western queens might be created as suddenly as 
they ; and a slight glance at data will show that this is highly 
probable. 

Col. Graham estimated that the commerce passing over the 
St. Clair flats, in 1855, was over $250,000,000, or more than 
the exports of the whole Southern States for the year 1860. 
The same officer, in his reports upon Chicago harbor, estimates 
that the imports at Chicago in 1855 were $196,660,064.66, and 
the exports at $212,953,021.88. To Chicago alone there is a 
tributary length of railroad of 2,720 miles, which passes into 



28 McClellan and the Rebellion. 

her lap the vast amount just mentioned, which is mainly de- 
rived from lumber, coal, salt, iron, copper, and fish. In 1858, 
the value of the lake commerce imports and exports was 
$600,000,000, and employed thirteen thousand seamen ; and the 
value of American tonnage on the lakes in the same year was 
$16,000,000. In the year 1857, the tonnage of Charleston 
amounted to 56,430 tons, while that of Chicago was 67,316. 
The whole area of the great lakes is 90,000 miles, and the land 
drained by them 335,515 miles. The territory is extremely 
fertile, and parts of it are suitable for cotton, and could pro- 
duce grain enough to feed the world, the exports of that article 
from the lake ports being, in 1860, 100,000,000 bushels. 

All these states were untainted with slavery, and thither the 
industrious emigrant who brought a small sum of money to the 
United States directed his steps. He did not care to go to the 
slave states ; the competition was too great ; he had no chance 
to rise ; he never could be considered as an equal by his neigh- 
bors. The population of the lake states was free, hardy, and 
independent. Newspapers abounded, free schools were esta- 
blished, as also some educational establishments of a higher 
kind. This immense progress was viewed with a jealous eye 
by the South. The free states had rapidly increased. They 
were yearly richer by several millions, while she remained the 
same, or, perhaps, became poorer. 

To this jealousy must also be added the efforts of the aboli- 
tionists, Avho waged an unceasing war against slavery, boldly 
assisted all fugitives, denounced slavery and its upholders, and 
whose press teemed with the most inflammatory documents of all 
kinds. This class of politicians embraced all the quakers,' and 
an immense proportion of the literati of the country ; the En- 
glish people, from the queen to the beggar, sympathized with 
them ; and there were, besides, numbers Avho privately encour- 
aged, but did not dare to abet them openly. " The peculiar 
institutions of the South" was a sore topic with most of its 
supporters, who, when at the north were driven to great ex- 
tremities, and defended this species of servitude very lamely ; 



McClellan and the Rebellion. 29 

rarely meeting the question in its fullest extent ; but always 
resorting to some vague sophism or hackneyed reasoning, which 
could be crushed by a solid argument. 

Two circumstances occurred which greatly tended to injure 
the cause of the slaveholder. This was the attempt to thrust 
slavery upon the people of Kansas, and the execution of John 
Brown ; that this individual met his just doom, there can be no 
question, but his execution and the manner of his trial showed 
such intense fear that it gave the abolitionists what they re- 
quired, a martyr. 

Such was the state of things when the time approached to 
choose a successor to President Buchanan. The democrats 
were not successful, and the people's candidate, Abraham Lin- 
coln, was elected. An intense panic pervaded the whole South ; 
they saw themselves stripped of all their negroes, and these 
latter put upon an equality with themselves. These alarms 
were groundless ; it was not the intention either of the Execu- 
tive or his party, to interfere with the rights of the South even 
in that kind of property ; that it was indeed the desire of some 
to extend it no further, and that the wisest and most reflecting 
part of the Union would do nothing to compromise the rights 
of their southern brethren, was a well-known fact. By the 
order of Secretary Floyd, who afterwards left the cabinet, 
matters were so arranged that a lai-ge quantity of arms and 
ammunition was placed at the disposal of the rebels. A 
traitorous assembly met in South Carolina, and on the 20th of 
December, 1860, South Carolina paved the way by an open 
withdrawal from the United Sates. This news was received 
with the greatest enthusiasm in the city of Charleston. The 
Executive took no steps to check this rebellion, and constantly 
spoke of conciliation. Forts were seized in North Carolina, 
Georgia, and Alabama, and the public moneys also appropriated 
wherever they could be found. 

On the 4th of January, 1861, the commissioners sent from 
South Carolina to treat for a peaceable cession of the United 
States property returned home, not having accomplished their 



30 McClELLAN ANT) THE REBELLION". 

object, and not having been received by the President in an 
official capacity. A defiant rebel speech was made in the United 
States Senate by Jefferson Davis, and the navy-yards at Pensa- 
cola surrendered. On the 19th, Georgia seceded by a vote of 
two hundred and eight to eighty-nine. A. H. Stephens, after- 
wards Vice-President of the so-called Confederacy, voting in 
the negative. In the meantime, the Star of the West, having 
on board two hundred and fifty troops and provisions for Ander- 
son, was fired on from Fort Moultrie, and forced to put to sea. 
Mississippi, also, passed an ordinance of secession, by a vote 
of eighty-four to fifteen ; Alabama seceded by a vote of sixty- 
one to thirty-nine ; and Florida by a vote of sixty-two to seven. 
Floyd, the late Cabinet Minister, was proved a defaulter ; the 
Constitution, at Washington, the organ of the rebels, and 
strongly sympathizing in all their movements, was suspended. 
Five of the states, before the 30th of January, had forfeited 
their allegiance to the old Union, and some officers of the navy 
had gone over, and John K. Hamilton, lately holding a com- 
mission, published a letter " exhorting all the United States 
officers to turn traitors, and break their oaths." On the 31st 
of January, $511,000, belonging to the government, was seized 
in the Branch Mint of the United States at New Orleans ; the 
majority of the New England States repealed the personal 
liberty bills. Jefferson Davis and Alexander H. Stephens, who 
had been elected President and Vice-President of the self-styled 
Southern Confederacy, were inaugurated at Montgomery, Ala- 
bama, with great pomp and enthusiasm. Abraham Lincoln 
passed through Philadelphia on his way to Washington, having 
left Harrisburg at night, to avoid a rumored assassination. At 
Philadelphia he raised the stars and stripes on Independence 
Hall, with an appropriate speech ; and on the 21st of February, 
1861, in an address at Trenton, the President elect observed 
that "the foot must be put down firmly;" and on the 4th of 
March, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was solemnly recognized as 
President of the United States. The newly elected Chief Ma- 
gistrate declared it to be his intention to vindicate the majesty 



McClkllan and the Rebellion. 31 

of the law, and to retake possession of all the property stolen 
from the United States. On the 14th of April, 18G1, Fort 
Sumter was in due form evacuated by the government troops, 
and the Palmetto Flag raised. 

Since then the efforts of the government have been cro-vvncd 
with success, and the rebels have been flying constantly before 
the advancing Union forces. No European power has as yet 
recognized the Southern Confederacy, and the waters of the At- 
lantic, particularly near the southern coast, swarm with cruisers 
who intercept prizes constantly. The secession of December, 
1860, is only the matured fruit of the nullification ordinance 
projected and promulgated by John C. Calhoun, Avith this im- 
portant difference, that he knew where to stop, but his followers 
do not. 



-_/e 



% 







IN FULL LENGTH, 

re Published and for Sale, WHOLESALE AND RETAIL, by 



^ir ^ 



^16 €HESTWIFT 

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. 






THREE' DOLLARS JPER HUNDRED. 

Or by taking Ten Hundred at^^^^time, - $2 per hundred. 



Gen. McClellau. 
" Ilalleck, 
•• AViH)!. 
•• Sigel. 
•' Smith, 

Col. Baker, 

KlUwortb, 
Corcoran, 



Gen. Banks, 
Iluuter, 
Fnxuklin, 
MrCall. 
Mejigher. 

Col. Rush. 
•• Lyle. 
Commodore Dupont 



Gen. Scott. 
•• Pope. 
" Buell. 
•■ Butler, 
'• Hooker. | 

Commodore Foote, 

•• Goldsborough j 
Secretary Stanton, ; 



Gen Freeraont, 
'-■ Shields. 
•• Burnside. 
•■ McDowell. 



President Lincoln, 
Parson BrownUiw, 
G. F. Traui. 



c^-KKS^s^ L 1' ST H h: p: 



E. G. WHITMAN & CO., 

MAXCFACTUREKS OF 

FANCY ^. PLAIN CAN BiES 

Including Druggists' Confections of a superior quality; 
Gtun Drops, Moss Paste, Jujube Paste, Cough Drops ; also, 

Our Confectionery is made of the best material that can be had, and will 
be Sold at the most Reasonable Prices. 



WHOLESALE AND 'RETAIL, 

Nx) ;-lls CHESNUT STREET- 




\ 



%. 



PHILAiJELPHIA. 



E. G. WHIT.M.^N. 



ALEX. JOILXSTON. 



C 



WANTED.— Agents can make from $o to $5 per day, selling Magee's Stationery 
Packages, apply or address, ;^1G Chesiuut Street. 
















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ST. AUGUSTINE ^^ ''^ * 



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